Black Visual Arts Archives Grants

Black Visual Arts Archives is a multi-year Getty Foundation grant program that provides funding to survey, process, digitize, and activate archival collections related to Black visual arts in the United States. Grants support activities such as collection inventories, archival processing, rehousing, digitization, technical training for staff and community members, and public programming. Grantees convene periodically to share knowledge and build a community of practice around stewardship of Black visual archives. The program began as a pilot in 2022 and was expanded into an annual funding initiative.

Project grants (typically $100,000–$300,000); support for surveying, processing, rehousing, digitization, staff and community training, and public programming; convenings for grantees.

Grants are open to non-profit organizations with archival collections related to Black visual arts in the United States, including public libraries, community arts organizations, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Eligible projects include collection surveys, archival processing and digitization, technical training for archivists, and public programming.

Interested organizations must submit an initial inquiry by email (brief statement up to 500 words on collections, state of archives, amount requested, and proposed use of funds). Eligible inquiries are invited to submit a full proposal; applications are reviewed by experts and notifications are issued in early spring.